EMK Institute unveils art exhibit by BPS students

More than 140 high school students participated in a new art installation that opened inside the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The exhibition— a group of nine, tiled murals depicting the Statue of Liberty entitled From Her Beacon— is the work of teenagers from Dorchester’s Boston International Newcomers Academy students created From Her Beacon: Now on display at EMK Institute Boston International Newcomers Academy students created From Her Beacon: Now on display at EMK Institute(BINcA).

James Hobin, the Savin Hill artist, worked alongside instructor Celoni Espinola to help the students create the work, which is made up of 180 painted panels. Each one of the 12x18 inch tiles was painted on a heavy card stock that have been arrayed on a prominent wall inside the Columbia Point institute.

Students from the BINcA will be on hand for the official launch of the exhibit on Friday to kick off Arts Week Boston. It will remain on display throughout the month of May.

“We’re enormously proud to host this exhibition,” said Jean MacCormack, president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

“Senator Kennedy advocated for strengthening cultural institutions and was the first United States Senator to have a senior staffer dedicated to the arts. We can think of no better way to honor that legacy than to highlight the impressive talents of the next generation of leaders and artists.”

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang added: “I thank the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for elevating the voices of our remarkable students.”

Hobin, who is a staff writer for the Dorchester Reporter, said that the artwork was created as part of a special Democracy Day held at BINcA last January on the day of the presidential inauguration.

“They look like they were made for this space,” said Hobin, who assisted in mounting the large tiles alongside the words of a sonnet written by the poet Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). Her poem “The New Colossus” includes the line, “From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome.”

The EMK Institute is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Massachusetts residents 17 years of age and younger are admitted to the Institute free of charge.


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